Recently, after coming across a "The Clash on the Big Bridge" remake in the FF12 soundtrack I decided to give it another chance, after all, that song kicks ass, who knows, maybe I was just being too hard on it.
Well, after playing it for a while now, about 30 hours in, I can honestly say that it is a much better game than I gave it credit for. Sure, the story for the first twenty hours consists of: go into dungeon, fight boss, walk outside and see ships flying above you. The "main protagonist" isn't even integral to the plot, but you can do what I did and just cut him out of the party by using three other characters.
However, I do still have some issues with the game. For one, it's a grindfest... even more so than it's predecessors. You fight through an enormous area, get to a boss, die, go grind, fight the boss again, die, grind just a little more, change a gambit or two, then win. Rinse and repeat. Also, the concept of Licenses is such metagame bullshit that I can scarcely fucking believe it. Why do I need to spend magical points that are NOT tied to experience in order to gain some intangible "license" allowing me to equip a piece of armor? Experience points fall under my suspension of disbelief, I'm willing to accept that your progress through martial prowess is measurable by a set amount of points that each victory is "worth". But license points do not fall under this suspension, what the fuck is a license grid? Is it an physical piece of paper that I have to mark off? What's to stop me from marking off every part of the grid immediately? Also, the concept of buying technicks and magicks makes no sense to me either. What does an "Aero" look like? Is it a scroll? Is it a magic orb? The prospect used in some PnP RPGs of spending XP on upgrades is understandable as well, your XP is teaching you new moves through itself, that makes sense. Spending license points does not. What the fuck are license points other than a metagame concept that was just thrown in to make up some bullshit progression system?
Whatever, Final Fantasy 12 is definitely better than I remember, but it's still not very good.
Saturday, November 20, 2010
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
GameInformer: 2
I just got my new copy of GameInformer, while the vast majority of it is industry servicing dribble I actually found an article that I highly agree with, I know the world's about to end huh?
The article in question is: The 30 Characters who defined a decade. While I am wary to completely state the list here in case some bullshit copyright laws extend to this sort of thing I will point out a few characters that I do disagree with... since I think me being angry is funnier, correct?
#2 John Marston: While I thoroughly enjoyed Red Dead Redemption I have to say it's only been out for less than a year now, how could you honestly say with any certainty that he's been a defining part of the decade? Don't get me wrong he is an amazing character and Red Dead Redemption is a deep and emotional story, but give it some more time, he's a brand new character when compared to some of the others.
#4 Master Chief: Just... no. Just, fucking, no.
#6 Alyx Vance: I LOVE HALF-LIFE! I fucking love it. It is one of if not my favorite FPS game ever made, especially Half-Life 2. But the reasoning that she is some sort of badass that eschews the stereotype of female protagonists being little more than romantic interests isn't enough to warrant a spot here. Honestly I think this was just a gimme that the GI writers used to fill in one of like three spots they couldn't think of someone for. Honestly, I don't even find her that attractive.
#9 Loghain Mac Tir: King is dead, new ruler is placed on the throne, and in a startling twist that is completely new to RPGs and storytelling everywhere it turns out that LOGHAIN IS EVIL! -dun dun duun- Oh wait isn't that the plot to Ultima 4? And like... every dime-a-dozen fantasy novel from the 80s? Loghain isn't new or inventive, he's a copy-paste of Lord Blackthorn from Ultima 4. Except that Lord Blackthorn was a much more sinister villain. I never felt that threatened by Loghain... the article says that's what they were going for, but that doesn't really make much sense. Instead of my sympathizing with the man I just didn't care. Every time he was mentioned I kind of tuned out and waited for some more dark spawn to show up so I could slaughter them. It was the only game I ever wanted to stop pushing its villain on me.
#14 Captain John Price: NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Well that's about it. I had planned on disagreeing with Kaim Argonar, but after reading their reasoning I sort of agree. So, that's all for now. Seeya.
The article in question is: The 30 Characters who defined a decade. While I am wary to completely state the list here in case some bullshit copyright laws extend to this sort of thing I will point out a few characters that I do disagree with... since I think me being angry is funnier, correct?
#2 John Marston: While I thoroughly enjoyed Red Dead Redemption I have to say it's only been out for less than a year now, how could you honestly say with any certainty that he's been a defining part of the decade? Don't get me wrong he is an amazing character and Red Dead Redemption is a deep and emotional story, but give it some more time, he's a brand new character when compared to some of the others.
#4 Master Chief: Just... no. Just, fucking, no.
#6 Alyx Vance: I LOVE HALF-LIFE! I fucking love it. It is one of if not my favorite FPS game ever made, especially Half-Life 2. But the reasoning that she is some sort of badass that eschews the stereotype of female protagonists being little more than romantic interests isn't enough to warrant a spot here. Honestly I think this was just a gimme that the GI writers used to fill in one of like three spots they couldn't think of someone for. Honestly, I don't even find her that attractive.
#9 Loghain Mac Tir: King is dead, new ruler is placed on the throne, and in a startling twist that is completely new to RPGs and storytelling everywhere it turns out that LOGHAIN IS EVIL! -dun dun duun- Oh wait isn't that the plot to Ultima 4? And like... every dime-a-dozen fantasy novel from the 80s? Loghain isn't new or inventive, he's a copy-paste of Lord Blackthorn from Ultima 4. Except that Lord Blackthorn was a much more sinister villain. I never felt that threatened by Loghain... the article says that's what they were going for, but that doesn't really make much sense. Instead of my sympathizing with the man I just didn't care. Every time he was mentioned I kind of tuned out and waited for some more dark spawn to show up so I could slaughter them. It was the only game I ever wanted to stop pushing its villain on me.
#14 Captain John Price: NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Well that's about it. I had planned on disagreeing with Kaim Argonar, but after reading their reasoning I sort of agree. So, that's all for now. Seeya.
Call of Duty: Black Ops!
Twenty bucks says it's the same fucking game as Modern Warfare 2, World at War, and Modern Warfare 1
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
RPGs
Remember when I said that I had some stuff planned like a Fragadacterlops: Dawn of War 2 ? Yeah well, fuck that, I don't feel like doing it anymore. Instead I will rant about RPGs.
Am I the only person who actually liked the traditional turn-based JRPG combat? It seems nowadays every fucking RPG has to be either a full-on Action game with a level/experience system or have a bastardized pseudo-turn based system. Don't get me wrong, a good Action RPG can beat out full on JRPGs on my list, the entire Kingdom Hearts series is high on my list of favorite games... except 358/2 Days, that one blew chunks, but when it's almost impossible to find a normal turn-based RPG to play I can't help but feel that the JRPG genre is dying. Of course in the future we'll be getting magnificent releases like Persona 5, but until then I'm stuck with games like Blue Dragon for the 360, a decent RPG if only because of Akira Toriyama and Nobuo Uematsu, and the god-awful timing combat of Lost Odyssey, I loved Lost Odyssey but the combat made me cry tears of blood. Final Fantasy 13 was a great game on its own merits as well, and the combat worked fantastically, it was quick and visual while still keeping the core of the ATB in tact. People around the world need to realize that a game doesn't need to be adrenaline pumped to have a fun battle system.
To end this mini-rant I'd like to thank my new follower for deciding to join me here on "Let's Listen to a bitter Man complain that that things aren't like he wants them to be". If either of you have comments about this subject feel free to leave them, I'd love to hear what you guys think.
Am I the only person who actually liked the traditional turn-based JRPG combat? It seems nowadays every fucking RPG has to be either a full-on Action game with a level/experience system or have a bastardized pseudo-turn based system. Don't get me wrong, a good Action RPG can beat out full on JRPGs on my list, the entire Kingdom Hearts series is high on my list of favorite games... except 358/2 Days, that one blew chunks, but when it's almost impossible to find a normal turn-based RPG to play I can't help but feel that the JRPG genre is dying. Of course in the future we'll be getting magnificent releases like Persona 5, but until then I'm stuck with games like Blue Dragon for the 360, a decent RPG if only because of Akira Toriyama and Nobuo Uematsu, and the god-awful timing combat of Lost Odyssey, I loved Lost Odyssey but the combat made me cry tears of blood. Final Fantasy 13 was a great game on its own merits as well, and the combat worked fantastically, it was quick and visual while still keeping the core of the ATB in tact. People around the world need to realize that a game doesn't need to be adrenaline pumped to have a fun battle system.
To end this mini-rant I'd like to thank my new follower for deciding to join me here on "Let's Listen to a bitter Man complain that that things aren't like he wants them to be". If either of you have comments about this subject feel free to leave them, I'd love to hear what you guys think.
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